Drying apparatus



May'7, 1929 l o. J. Kul-:Nuouz 1,711,799'

I DRYING APPARATUS f riginal Filed Aug.1o, 1925 4 sheets-'Sheet 1 atto: nun

May 7, 11929. f o. J. KUENHOLD 1,711,799

x RYING APPARATUS original 'Filed Aug.'1o1923 4 sheets-sheet 2 13 1' .la 1);@313 l May?, 1929. 0.1. KUENHOLD 1,711,799

` DRYING APPARATUS origina- Filed Aug. 1o, 1925 '4 sheets-sheet 3 Zz/3 7 WW1/1MM May, 7, y1929. l o. J. KuENHoLD 1,711,799

' i pmt-ING APPARA'rus Original Filed Aug.1 0, 1925 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 www '- Patented Muay 7, 1.9.29.

OTTO'JOHN KUENHOLD, 0F CLEVELAND, OHIO.

Darme APPARATUS.

Application l'ed Aug-uit 10, 1923, Serial No. 656,701. Renewed October 3', 1928.

This invention relates to drying apparatus,

such as is used, for example, in household.

laundries and the like. More particularly, .the invention relates to drying apparatus of cabinet form including'an air heating cham- I ber, a clothes drying chamber, suitable devices on which the clothes may be supported,

and the necessary means for producing proper flow or circulation of air through the drying chamber. v

The objects of the invention are to provide i improved drying apparatus of the form described in which the cabinet is of simple construction and may be readily erectedand installed and includes parts arranged in convenient form for shipping or storage and'v adapted to pass through a relatively small door or other opening; to provide animproved arrangement for causing the flow ofheated drying air over or aroundthe material to be dried; to provide an 1m royed arrangement of racks or supporting evices for-the material" to be dried; andnally to l,

secure greater efficiency and speed of operation as regards the drying eiiect. v Further objects of the'invention are in part obvious and inl part will appear more in de-v tail hereinafter. l l i In the drawing, Fig. 1 is in part a front elevation, showing one of the cabinet doors open,

and in part a broken out sectional elevation on the line'1--1, Fig. 2.; Fig. 2 is a sectional l plan view on approximately the line 2 2,

Figs. 1- and 4, parts being brokenlout to ex-Y pose interior parts; Fig. 3 is a sectional'plan view on the line 3 3, Fig. 1; Fig. 4 -is a sectional elevation of the. lower part of the device on the line L1.4, Fig. 2;v Figsl 5", 6, 7,

.8 and 9 are sectional plan views, illustrating in somewhat .conventional form other arrangements of drying'racks; arid Figs. 10 and 11 are respectively van elevatlon and a sectional plan view, showing details of the racks.

4and the means for controlling the l flow of air through the apparatus. The two caslng members are formed as separable units to facilitate manufacture and for convenlence in shipping, storing and transportation to the place of use. For example, the lower casing member is provided with suitable feet 6 adapted to rest upon the floor or other support, a i'loor 7,-end walls 8 and side walls 9 all formed of sheets or plates joined at their edges in the usual manner of such sheet metal work. 'Upon the side and end walls is located a horizontal partition or wall 10 provided with two openings 11, 12, both preferably provided with removable screens '13 for collecting lin-t and foreign substances. This wall 10 forms a part of the upper cabinet unit and also the means for removably connecting it to the base, .for which purpose its edges are bent downwardlynto U-form, as at 14, to sleeve over the base and also receive the lower edges of the'side and rear walls l5,

16 of the upper cabinet member. Said upper member has a roof 17 vand one or more, two being shown, of suitable hinged doors 18.

. It may be lifted from the lower unit and the v latter 1s of such size and proportions as to v enable it to be placed inside of the upper unit for packing, storage or shipping, the arrangement also enabling each unit to .be carried individually through a small door or -down a narrow cellar stairway to the place of use, Where the two units are assembled by placing the upper -unit in position on the ower.'

Within the lower cabinet member are -located the air heating devices, such as the gas or other heater 20 supplied with fuel fromv any suitable source and usually provided with a screened air inlet 21. Thel heated products ofpombustion from said burner rise throughla chamber 22 and pass through a series of vertically elongated horizontally exy tending pipes or conduits 23 connecting said chamber to a hollow header or manifold 2 4 from which they flow through a horizontal pipe 25 to a vertical pipe 26 leading to the chimney or other outlet. -In one of said pipes,

as in pipe 25, is a rotatable valve or damper 27 actuated b rod 28 having a handle 29 ex'f posed on the ont wall of the casing.

The air for drying the clothes is circulated through the cabinet and during its ilowtherethrough is heated by but without actual contactor mixture with the products of combus tion. In the arrangement shown the drying air enters the lower cabinet member through the inlet pipe 30 opening directly to the atmosphere and in which may be located a suitable adjustable valve or damper 31 controlled by the handle 32. The incoming air flows horizontally 'from right to'left in Fig. 1, entering chamber 5 and being deflected upwardly by the dellector plates 33 so that it passes between the series of neighboring heating pipes 23 and thence through the screened opening 11 to the drying chamber 16. It being assumed that the doors are closed, the heated air rises in the drying chamber 16 and follows approximately thecourse of the arrows in Fig. 1, passing upwardly, then to the right and then downwardly and iowing out from the drying chamber through the screened opening 12 leading to a chamber or passage 34 from which it flows through` anopening in the end wall of the lower unit to a passage 35 in a pipe or conduit 36 rising along one end of the cabinet and surrounding the pipe 26, pipe 36 being larger than said pipe to leave the annular passage 35 around the pipe 26.

The elfect'of the telescoped or co-axially arranged pipes 26 and 36 is to secure an increased draft of drying air through the apparatus due to the flow of the heated products of combustion in pipe 26. Said pipe serves as a heater to heat andv therefore expand the rising air current in the annular passage 35 and thereby induces and accelerates the draft. By proper regulation. or adjustment of the position of dampers 31, 27, the air current may be caused to how at any desired speed so as to eiliciently dry the material in the least possible time. v

Within the chamber 16 are located the racks or other devices for supporting the clothes or other material to be dried. These racks may be of any suitable form but preferably include a. series of like frames normally supported within the chamber in parallel vertical planes to secure the greatest capacity and best distribution of the materials in the drying chamber. In all arrangements of racks' shown in the drawings there are four racks in separate vertical planes, the rear rack comprising a series of horizontal bars 37 spaced from the back wall of the casing and lying in parallel horizontal relation in the same vertitioned and arranged as to enable them to lie' cal plane. The remaining three racks are movably mounted so as to be capable of being moved to a position extending outwardly from the drying chamber for convenient access to the inner racks for applying thereto and removing therefrom the materials to be dried. Preferably the racks are so propor-y in spaced arallel vertical planes when in position in t e drying chamber and 1n parallel position, or at least nearlyso, when projected outwardly from the casing, thereby afford? ingmaximum access to all rackszfor loa-ding and unloading the same. i

l In the arrangement shown in Fig. 1, each of the three forward racks comprises two vertically extending side bars or pipes 40 connected by horizontal cross bars 41, thet-hree racks being identica-l as regards the side and cross bars for convenience in quantity production. One of the side bars has secured to its" upper and lower ends arms 42 provided with pivot pins 43 entering vertically aligned openings in the root and floor of the drying chamber, although the upper opening may be slightly advanced, or in other words, slightly nearerto the door opening than the lower so that the racks have a natural tendency tov swung outwardly or to open position. The arms 42 for the several racks are of different lengths,as shown in Figs. 1 and 3, each successive set of pivot pins from front to rear being advanced or stepped to the right one step. As a consequence, when the `three forward racks are swung outwardly they lie closely adjacent and in parallel relation enabling them to be readily loaded and unload-v ed with maximum degree of access-to all racks. To releasably hold the racks in dry* ing position the lswinging end bars 404 are provided with pins 44 adapted to engage notches or recesses in an inclined bracket member 45 attached to the end casing wall. Such a bracket member may be fastened to each end wall and two sets of pivot openings are provided in the roof and floor so that the dicular to the planes of the racks and in this v arrangement, also,4 only one bracket -45 is employed so that the racks at their other ends lie closer to the end wall-of the casing than in Ithe form shown in Fig. However extra holes may be provided in the opposite end wall ofthe casing so that the bracket 45 can be attached to either end wall and the racks may be reversed toswing from the right, if desired. y

In Fig. 6, the pivots for the several racks are offset in the planes ot the racks by bodily displacement of the racks relative to each other so as to locate them in stepped relation. The pivots for all racks, however, are each' located at the same point as regards its respective individual rack. Also, the bracket 45a is curved due to the peculiar arcs of swing of the several pins44.

In .7 theracks are directly opposite or in registration with each other 'but the pivots therefor are stepped at different distances from the end bars in a direction parallel with the planes of the racks.

`In Fig. 8 the pivots for the several racks v are offset o r stepped both parallel with and perpendicular to the planes of the racks, while in Fig. 9 the pivots of the first and third racks are offset from the centers of the posts in opposite di'rections, one forwardly and the other rearwardly, while the pivot for the second rack is in the axis of its post.

While both the vertical and horizontal members of the racks may be made of wood with mortised joints, as is usual, I preferably specially form the racks in a mannerto avoid warping either from the eicct of moisture on the wood itself or diie to the weight of materials hung on the racks. Figs. and 1l illustrate the upper corner of a rack so constructed. The vertical posts 40 are light metal tubes or pipes of stock size, while each horizontal bar 41 has its end portionssplit, as at 41a, and provided with an opening so that the two ears 41b formedby the split may be made to embrace the bar 40. -Wlien aslsenibled in proper position the parts are clamped-together by a bolt`4l". W ithsuch an arrangement all parts are firmly held together without liability of warping and the arms 42 may be suitable metal members threaded, pinned or otherwise secured to the ends of the pipes 40. It should also be noted, particularlyby reference to Fig. l, that the pivot pins for the racks are elongated vertically andthe arms 42 normally lie below the roof 17 of the cabinet. Therefore, as each rack is turned back into drying position its pin A44 rides upalong the inclined edge of the bracket 45 with slight upward motion of the entire rack until said pin reaches its position in the bracket notch or recess where it is releasably held by gravity.

Other arrangements obviously can be 'ref sorted to, but in all cases either the pivots alone, or the racks themselves, or botli racks and pivots are offset oi' steppedeither parallel to or perpendicular to or both the planes of the racks.` The eiiect is to secui'e closely nesting or neighboring parallel relation of the racks when open as well as parallel spaced relation when closed. f

What l claim is:

Y l. Drying apparatus, coi'iiprising a cabinet provided ith an upper drying chamber and a lower h ating chamberwitlra horizontal wall separating thesame, said cabinet being in two parts separable at approximately 'the plane of said horizontal wall, and one ofsaid cabinet parts being adapted to containthe other for shipping and storing purposes.

2. Drying apparatus, comprlsing a cabinet provided with an upper drying chamber and a lower heatin chamber with4 a horizontal wall upper and separating t e same, said' cabinet being in two parts separable at approximately the plane of said horizontal wall, and said wall having telescoping connection with both the lower and upper cabinet parts.

3. Drying apparatus, comprising a cabinet provided with an yupper drying chamber and alower heating chamber communicating with eacli other through an opening in a horizontal separating wall, heating means in said heating chamber provided with an outlet to a vent pipe, and an exhaust air conduit surroundingsaid vent pipe and communicating with said dryin chamber for carrying away the moisture-1a en air. A

4. Drying apparatus, comprising a cabinet provided with an upper drying chamber and a lower heating chamber communicating with each other through an opening in a horizon; tal separatin wall, heating means in said heating cham er provided with an outlet to a vent pipe, and an exhaust air conduit surrounding said vent pipe and communicating with said drying chamber for carrying away the moisture vladen air, said vent pipe and said exhaust air conduit being vertically dis posed at one side of the cabinet.

. 5. Drying apparatus, comprising a cabinet including heating and drying chambers, an outlet pipe for said drying chamber, a heating drum within said heating chamber, and a vent pipe for said drum having its lower end portion passing through said drying ture laden air, heating'nieans in said heating chamber, a casing in said heating chamber for enclosing said heating means, air supply means for said enclosing casing, air supply means for said heating chamber, and an exhaust conduit for said enclosing casing for carrying away the products of combustion.

7. Drying apparatus, comprising separable upper and lower casing sections, said upper casinv section being provided with a drying cliamlber and said lower casing section being provided with a heating chamber, heating means 11i said heating chamber, a casing in .said heating chamber for enclosing said heat- *ing means, a vent pipe for said heating casing in said lower casing section, means providing communication between said chambers for the iiow of heated air from said heating chamber to saiddrying chamber, and an exhaust passage or'said drying chamber arranged vv.within said lower casing section.

8. Drying apparatus, comprising se arable ower casing sections, sai upper section being provided With a drying chamber and said lower chamber being provided with 4a heating chamber, heating means in said heating chamber, a casing in said heating chamberl for enclosing said heating means, means providing communication between said chambers for the flow of heated air from `said heating chamber to said drying chamber, an exhaust passage for said drying chamber drying chamber exhaust passage portion. which is arranged Within the lower easing section.

In testimony whereof I hereby ax my signature. i

oT'ro JOHN IHJENHOLD.v 

